Canon Gets Serious About Cinema With A 60-800 Cinema Zoom (Patent only so far)

We have a lot of exciting Canon lens announcements to be looking forward to over the coming months.

They’ve made it clear that they’re interested in expanding their lens library to include more cinema and even anamorphic options. Judging by the virtually universal admiration for Canon glass, it seems that these additions will become popular at rental houses internationally. So that makes this first announcement a pretty big deal.

According to Canon Rumors, Canon has received a Patent on their designs for a CN-E 60-800mm f/4-5.6 lens. First of all, this is just a ridiculously huge range to cover and being able to stop all the way down to f/5.6 at 800mm only adds to the insanity. It also shows that Canon is serious about rounding out their line of cinema glass.

With Canon looking to expand into anamorphic glass in the near future, I can’t help but speculate on the way in which they’ll attack the market. While I’d love to believe that we’ll be looking at an $8,000 – $12,000 price range, I feel like Canon’s going to take aim at the Hawk line and compete at a price point closer to theirs.

This means that they’ll fall just outside the reach of the average shooter looking to rent. This isn’t a bad thing, but I feel as if it’s unnecessary. Far be it for me to assume Canon should lower the prices just for me, but a guy can dream, can’t he?

PATENT: CANON CN-E 60-800MM F/4-5.6

A new cinema lens patent has appeared, this time for a CN-E 60-800mm f/4-5.6. We expect to see a few lenses announced in early 2017 ahead of NAB in April. We’re told at least one anamorphic lens will be announced.

Bret Hoy is a filmmaker, photographer and writer based out of St. Louis, Missouri. Mainly focused on documentary and experimental film, he has produced, directed, shot and edited many short films and a few long form works.